Did the Church “support” the Nazi regime—or were members just trying to survive?

In this episode, Jasmin Rappleye, Neal Rappleye, and Stephen Smoot unpack Nazi secret police files, surveillance reports, banned books, arrests, and a high-level memo stating that Latter-day Saint doctrine is incompatible with National Socialism.

We also add context to the infamous Heber J. Grant photo and highlight the story of Helmut Hübener.

What you’ll learn

• How minorities navigated “three doors”: resistance, collaboration, or neutrality

• What Nazi reports say about Latter-day Saint beliefs and behavior

• Why some local leaders tried to “play nice”—and why the regime still distrusted the Church

• The reality behind viral claims and photos

Here are some of the resources discussed in the episode as well as other valuable resources on this topic!

https://mormonr.org/qnas/aA2rfb/latter_day_saints_and_nazi_germany

https://rsc.byu.edu/book/harms-way

https://rsc.byu.edu/book/under-gun

https://rsc.byu.edu/firm-foundation/succession-german-mission-leadership-during-world-war-ii

https://ensignpeakfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/German-and-Austrian-Latter-day-Saints-in-World-War-II-An-Analysis-of-the-Casualties-and-Losses.pdf

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/history/topics/helmuth-hubener?lang=eng

https://rsc.byu.edu/regional-studies-latter-day-saint-church-history-europe/deliverer-oppressor

https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/sbi/issues/024.pdf

https://www.jstor.org/stable/23286361

https://archive.org/details/whentruthwastrea0000unse

If this helped clarify a tough topic, like, comment, and subscribe for more faith-and-scholarship conversations.

#LDS #InformedSaints #History #NaziGermany #HelmutHubener

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